The Oct. 27 Times/News reported that under a 1997 Interlocal Agreement between the Port and the City of Sea-Tac, the Port set up a $10 million community mitigation fund for the city. The City borrowed from that fund to renovate the Valley Ridge Center into a new City Hall. In exchange, the City agreed not to oppose the Port's plan to build a third runway at Sea-Tac.

Congress reimburses the Port of Seattle to operate and run Sea-Tac Airport. Circa 1990 the Federal Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Transportation came down on the City of SeaTac and the Port for a local Interagency Agreement between the Port and the City of Sea-Tac where the Port was funding the City for mitigation and the City was doing business with the money on North Sea-Tac Park -- not in accordance with the laws of Congress.

The Federal Inspector General of the USDOT made the City of SeaTac return the federal taxpayers’ money. The Inspector General said that the federal taxpayers’ money must be used for airport uses inside the fence of Sea-Tac Airport only, except for federal money relating to FAR 150 (noise) mitigation.

The federal taxpayers’ mitigation money must be used to do FAR 150 business only; i.e., to noise insulate FAR 150 homes, FAR 150 schools, FAR 150 nursing homes, FAR 150 government offices.

Ann M. Bonney

Seattle